Schedule & program

The meeting will begin with an icebreaker on Wednesday evening (March 16th), end with its traditional banquet and dancing on Saturday night (March 19th), and be filled in between with the latest research in benthic marine ecology. The scientific program will include both oral presentations and posters on a variety of contemporary subjects in marine sciences including: anthropogenic impacts, arctic ecosystems, biological invasions, behavior, biodiversity, chemical ecology, community ecology, conservation and management, deep sea biology, ecophysiology, ecosystem functioning, evolution, fisheries, life history strategies, macroecology, metapopulations/population genetics, restoration, molecular ecology, recruitment/larval ecology, reef ecology, trophic relationships.

Sessions for oral presentations will run all day Thursday and Saturday, but will end early on Friday to allow participants the opportunity to explore the city and surrounding area or to schedule smaller group meetings. A social event will be held later that evening in the The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (www.gmri.org), a nonprofit organization that catalyzes solutions to the complex challenges of ocean stewardship and economic growth in the Gulf of Maine bioregion. All posters will be presented on Thursday evening but also should be available for viewing all day Friday.

Program

We are pleased to announce that this year's meeting will kick off with a plenary lecture given by Dr. Boris Worm on Thursday morning. We will update this page with the topic and title of Dr. Worms talk when have it. Stay tuned!!

Marine biodiversity in space and time: my research interests have long focused on the interaction between people and marine biodiversity, at a regional to global scale. I am interested in how patterns of marine biodiversity arise, how hotspots of high species richness are formed and maintained. On the more applied side I have been tracking changes in marine biodiversity over time and space, with some emphasis on large marine predators such as sharks, tuna, billfish and whales. I am keen to understand what forces these changes, and what the relative contribution is of human-induced versus natural variation. A lot of my work has focused specifically on the impacts of fishing and climate change, and how they may interact in contemporary ecosystems. From this basis of understanding my students and I try to devise management solution that can help to conserve and restore marine biodiversity worldwide.

​The schedule has been finalized and is available by downloading the PDF file of the program below. There is no need for you to print it. During the conference, we will provide you with a hard copy of the program that has additional details such as the social activities, suggested restaurants and other useful information.

​Below are the poster assignments for the meeting. Please find your name and associated poster number which will correspond to a space within the poster display area. Please hang your poster by your poster number only.